The company has been scouting sites for a plant that would enable it to more easily export its products to Mexico and the Midwest, local development officials said.

Maruchan would place about 55 managers and other executives at the plant, while a company under contract to Maruchan would hire about 500 production workers over seven years, said David Marquez, executive director of Bexar County's economic development department.

Maruchan is an international food manufacturer whose products, beloved by people on a budget, include instant ramen noodle soups and cups of “instant lunch.”

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Henry Cisneros, chairman of the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation, said the deal with Maruchan hasn't been finalized, but “every kind of job that we can attract is a good thing for someone. And I predict that when a company like this announces that it is hiring 500 people, they'll have several thousand applicants. So that speaks to the need here.”

County Judge Nelson Wolff said in a statement that the project “will have a positive and lasting impact on our county.”

Plans call for Maruchan's facility to occupy 500,000 square feet, with construction expected to start in the fall and the opening set for spring 2014.

The 60-acre site would include a manufacturing plant, as well as a warehouse and shipment facilities, officials said.

The site is on Fischer Road near Interstate 35 and Loop 410, in the Medio Creek Business Park, the Economic Development Foundation said in a statement.

“They will scale up and build in phases,” Marquez said.

Maruchan officials didn't return a call seeking comment Monday. The company has two plants in Irvine, Calif., and another near Richmond, Va., according to its website.

Maruchan is to make a presentation today before the Commissioners Court to ask for incentives, according to the county's public agenda.

The county is prepared to offer Maruchan an economic development grant in which the company would pay its annual tax on real and personal property of an estimated $577,565 a year, but the county would rebate 60 percent of that amount back to Maruchan each year for 10 years.

The county usually bases its tax breaks on the number of direct jobs an employer provides, but because of the plant's location and the potential of hundreds of jobs, Bexar will depart from that practice.

“We think it will tap into a new section of our workforce,” Marquez said.

Marquez didn't disclose details of Maruchan's prospective pay, but he said the company “will serve a part of our community that doesn't have a large number of employers.”

The plant would be close to offices of another company new to the area: oil field services provider Schlumberger.

“Geographically, that's growing up to be a potent industrial cluster in that area,” Cisneros said. “That, too, is a good thing.”

Maruchan also is making requests of the city. On Thursday, the City Council will vote on an ordinance that would create the Maruchan Industrial District, which would not be annexed for five years, contingent upon Maruchan's investing at the site and creating more than 500 jobs.

The council also will vote on a grant agreement that would reimburse 100 percent of Maruchan's personal property taxes for as many a five years if the city annexes the site in years six through 10 after the nonannexation agreement ends.